Bad Axe

I just finished reading Bad Axe, one of two new "Thorn" novels by James W. Hall. I used to read every book in this series as they came out, but in 2014, after writing The Big Finish, Hall ended the series. However, several years ago, he resumed the Thorn stories with Bad Axe. It features a tarnished knight-in-shining-armour type named Thorn, who lives off the grid in Key Largo, Florida, making fishing lures, living a quiet life, and then getting involved, along with his friend Sugarman - a former police officer - helping people out of dangerous situations. In Bad Axe, Thorn and Sugarman are asked by a fishing guide friend to help him retrieve poison-gas-filled land mines that he allowed someone to steal during the Vietnam War, which have just surfaced after all those years. I enjoyed this book, and recommend it, but it appears that these new Thorn novels are self-published, and only available on Amazon. Laurence Shames, who stopped writing his comic Key West novels, and then started writing them again years later, also now self-publishes, as does Tom Corcoran, who writes Key West mysteries featuring photographer Alex Rutledge. Why are these books no longer published by a major publishing house? Are they not socially relevant enough for today's target audience? If so, it shows what a sad state this country is now in, as if we need another reminder.